Couple of new pre-bonsai, need some input..!

[alonsou]

I was able to get this couple of nice pre-bonsai's from the nursery of one of our club members. Needless to say that I got them for a ridiculous price, but now I need some help, ANY input you can provide me will be very helpful.

I hope this are the right names for them:

1. Buxus sempervirens (Boxwood)
2. Malus species? (Ripe Crabapple)

If anyone can provide me with some kind of "plan" as to what I should be doing in the next few years with them, that also can help.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

I need to move to California...this is great material!

Sadly boxwoods seem to hate me and I've never tried growing a malus, so I can't provide any input in that regard...but this is really good stock and I thought I'd throw my two cents in. Assuming the price wasn't as ridiculous as it might be around where I'm from (Michigan), then I'd say the cost may've been worth it.

Styling-wise, I may eventually take that bottom branch off of the boxwood. Do they bud back from old wood well? From the pictures it looks like it could use a couple new low branches from the trunk, but it's hard to tell from just that angle.

In regards to the crabapple, I think that when chopping season comes, you could use that tall, straight red shoot as a new leader and maybe wire some movement into it.

 

[Bill S]

Sounds easy, but it's good practice.

Put away the tools, then put the pot in your lap and look those over from every angle you can, and find a trunk line you like, then begin to imagine what you want the tree to look like. Then start building them from there. The one thing bonsai isn't is paint by numbers. Once you have an idea of what you want start hitting on specific questions.

Get some insecticide, and fungicide for the malus, you will need it, unless you live where there are NO bugs, and no fungus spores in the air.

 

[alonsou]

I pruned some of the foliage on the boxwood in an effort to try to reveal some of the branches (not many :| ) I think it came up fairly well, I'll say I removed about 50~60% of the foliage, even after the pruning still some areas hard to see but I guess you'll have a better idea now.



"Back" view



Close up of the "extra" branch, if I ended up removing it I think it will be pretty easy to get something out of it, since there seem to be some nice roots attached to it, but I'm still debating if I can incorporate it into the whole design of the tree.



Some death wood on the "back" of the tree

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

From that back view it really looks like it might make a decent double-trunk...but that smaller trunk should grow out a bit more, IMO. This has a pretty powerful nebari.

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

I think the roughness of my virt can go toe-to-toe with anyone else's on the forum, but it is what it is. Let me know what you think

 

[alonsou]

I think the roughness of my virt can go toe-to-toe with anyone else's on the forum, but it is what it is. Let me know what you think

I like that virtual, I assume the red lines is where I will be chopping the trunks right?..

 

[rockm]

FWIW, I'd simply get rid of the small "trunk" on the boxwood. It won't hurt the image and over time the scar will fill in. The nebari won't be affected, as it looks like the roots coming off the smaller "trunk" are dead or pretty inconsequential. It is so tall and uninteresting that it adds nothing to the composition. It will always be so. You will not be able to force movement into it. It needs to go...so does the arial root...

As for the apple, like already mentioned, get fungicide and insecticide. Be prepared to use both frequently . Let it grow (preferably in-ground) for five or six years with no pruning. After that, hard prune it back to a trunk...regrow primary branching.

 

[Bill S]

Gotta make the eyes a feature, there is a Nick Lenz spook in that somehow.

 

[stacy allen muse]

if it was me I might lower the secondary branch on the left, lower the foilage on the main trunk and jin the top ??? I would also carve the already existing scars on the bottom and enlarge them, making them part of the features of the trunks...

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

I like that virtual, I assume the red lines is where I will be chopping the trunks right?..

Ah! I totally forgot to create a legend. lol -- Yes, that's where I was thinking the chops could be. For the chop on the left, I was thinking you could choose a new leader and grow it a little taller, but the chop so low was to provide some taper.

 

[Jason]

FWIW, I'd simply get rid of the small "trunk" on the boxwood. It won't hurt the image and over time the scar will fill in. The nebari won't be affected, as it looks like the roots coming off the smaller "trunk" are dead or pretty inconsequential. It is so tall and uninteresting that it adds nothing to the composition. It will always be so. You will not be able to force movement into it. It needs to go...so does the arial root...

As for the apple, like already mentioned, get fungicide and insecticide. Be prepared to use both frequently . Let it grow (preferably in-ground) for five or six years with no pruning. After that, hard prune it back to a trunk...regrow primary branching.

This is all good advice....but if you want options.....It seems like on the boxwood you could also try cutting the smaller trunk back to a smaller stump for a year and see if you can force any more interesting growth (assuming you want a twin trunk). You can always remove it or carve it later. That's easy. Worst case scenario it loses one year of healing time. If you change the angle of the planting is the arial root still arial?

 

[Juniperus Californica]

Hey Alonsou,

Did you get that material at Carol Upton's sale? It looks very familiar.

JC

 

[Alex DeRuiter]

FWIW, I'd simply get rid of the small "trunk" on the boxwood. It won't hurt the image and over time the scar will fill in. The nebari won't be affected, as it looks like the roots coming off the smaller "trunk" are dead or pretty inconsequential. It is so tall and uninteresting that it adds nothing to the composition. It will always be so. You will not be able to force movement into it. It needs to go...so does the arial root...

As for the apple, like already mentioned, get fungicide and insecticide. Be prepared to use both frequently . Let it grow (preferably in-ground) for five or six years with no pruning. After that, hard prune it back to a trunk...regrow primary branching.

I think a benefit to this is that, depending on how/where the chop is made, it might create an interesting transition from the nebari to the base of the trunk.

As for developing movement in the trunk, I imagine that it could be done over time, but being so inexperienced I couldn't tell you how long or how exactly to plan it...but I think it could be done. Now being worth it is a whole different question. ;-p

Gotta make the eyes a feature, there is a Nick Lenz spook in that somehow.

Ahh, good point. This is an interesting feature I didn't pay much attention to until now!

 

[alonsou]

Hey Alonsou,

Did you get that material at Carol Upton's sale? It looks very familiar.

JC

Yes sir, I was there last Saturday 10:00 am. sharp, lots where already reserved and isolated, but there were a few hundred left to choose from, some really worth the trip. Are you part of KofuKai?

 

[Colorado Slim]

I like Stacy's virt... a little deadwood on top never hurt... what if you deadwooded (does that work work?) the smaller trunk back by half?? Whatever you end up doing this tree has a beautiful foot to stand on

 

[alonsou]

Thanks to all for the nice comments and criticism, I decided to open a new thread dedicated only to the boxwood, since it seems to get a lot more attention than the little crab, I have also added the latest progression of it with a bunch of images, I like what I have so far, now I think for real its time to let it rest..

 

[Smoke]

Yes sir, I was there last Saturday 10:00 am. sharp, lots where already reserved and isolated, but there were a few hundred left to choose from, some really worth the trip. Are you part of KofuKai?

There is still more of that stuff? I thought we gutted that place two years ago for the first convention in Riverside?

 

[alonsou]

There is still more of that stuff? I thought we gutted that place two years ago for the first covention in Riverside?

I'm only going to say that it was a little hard to walk around or in between all those trees, somehow she found a way to get more I guess..

 

[Juniperus Californica]

...Are you part of KofuKai?

Yes, I'm a member of Kofu Kai.